A Teenager's Selfless Last Wish

A year to the day after she buried her son, Joanie Halgrim rode in a minivan down a rocky dirt road not far from the airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The van stopped in the midst of some bleak gray apartment blocks. In a week's time, thanks to her son's final request, one of those buildings would become home to orphan children, a place where they would sleep in new bunk beds. At 14, Joanie's son John Halgrim was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. When Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteer Sue Fenger came to visit, she was taken aback by his sole request. "I want to open an orphanage in Africa," he told the wish-granter. That was not what Fenger expected. Wishes like going to a movie premiere or meeting the president usually can be granted. But this? "John, that's a really big wish," she said. "I'm not sure Make-A-Wish can do a wish like that. Do you have a second wish?" But he had made up his mind. "Nope," he said, "that's my only wish."

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